A abets B through telephone to murder C. But due to some technical defects B could not hear the voice of A. Is A guilty of ‘abetment for murder’ of C?

Question: A abets B through telephone to murder C. But due to some technical defects B could not hear the voice of A. Is A guilty of ‘abetment for murder’ of C? [U.P.C.J. 1988]

Find the answer to the mains question only on Legal Bites. [A abets B through telephone to murder C. But due to some technical defects B could not hear the voice of A. Is A guilty of ‘abetment for murder’ of C?]

Answer

As per Section 107, IPC a person abets the doing of a thing when: he instigates any person to do that thing. The definition of abetment in the chapter is general in nature. It does not make the abetment of an ‘offense’ but of a ‘thing’, which may or may not be an offense. This makes the abettor solely liable in some cases, even though the person abetted may be wholly innocent.

The word ‘instigate’ literally means to provoke, incite, urge on or bring about by persuasion to do anything. It denotes incitement or urging to do some drastic or unadvisable action or to stimulate or incite. A person is said to instigate another when he urges forward or provokes, incites, urges, or encourages such person to do any act prohibited by law. As held in the case of Ranganayaki v. State by Inspector of Police, (2004) 12 SCC 521, the instigation must be with reference to the thing that was done and not to the thing that was likely to have been done by the person who is instigated. It is only if this condition is fulfilled that a person can be guilty of abetment by instigation. It is only if this condition is fulfilled that a person can be guilty of abetment by instigation.

In the present case, the abetment done by A due to some technical defects in the telephone could not instigate B to murder C. Since, no instigation was complete A is not guilty of abetment for the murder of C.

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